One for the pro retouchers...yes you shelby & co

[risenshine]

Hi Flora,thankyou,

yes something around that in fact please tell me, how you got there, is it airbrusehd? I like the eveness of the skin tone,if i know the steps i can apply it, then i can work on the colour and contrast maybe bring back the sharpness, then work on the rest of image

[aaRonology101]

dodge and burn baby ..

[Flora]

Hi risenshine,

glad to be on the right track...

In pictures like yours, evenness of skin tones is usually my first aim... The rest, is a matter of personal taste (colour, lighter, darker, smoother, sharper etc.).

Usually, I tackle uneven skin tones as a simple 'colour problem'..meaning... too red, yellow, magenta or too dark spots in some of the colours.

My favourite Tool for minimizing those problems is Selective Colors which, IMO, gives the greatest control for correcting each colour individually.

That's what I used with your picture.

1) Created a Selective Colors Adjustment Layer.

The values I used here (I tweaked Reds and Yellows only) (Attachment 1)
The immediate result after...(Attachment 2)..good already, but I could still see the tan lines...

2) Created a new blank Layer set to Lighten and, sampling from surrounding skin ares, I used a fuzzy brush (Opacity 20-40%)to paint over the darker lines. If necessary, you can add a bit of noise to the corrected areas and 'play' with the 'lighten' Layer's Opacity.

For skin smoothing I used Neat Image. (free noise removing software that can be downloaded here)

Hope this helps.

P.S. The values I used in the Selective Colors Adjustment Layer are for the size and resolution of the image I worked on ... you might have to adjust those values ...

[risenshine]

Thankyou All, will apply these tips and post my results soon xxx

[shellby]

I have a good excuse, been away getting married and on honeymoon

once again dodge and burn on a 50% grey softlight layer

To get rid of the mottled look zoom out to 100% or even 70% and lighten those dark lines. You dont always need to be zoomed right in.

[risenshine]

wow, congrats shelby, cool still working on it quite slow at the mo x

[shellby]

Thanks, it does take time so don't worry

[Cassidy]

Congrats Shelby and best wishes for the future